"Pineapple Fund, the $86 million bitcoin charity, has announced it will double the value of every donation to the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) until March 10th, up to $4 million. This is meant to help the non-profit research organization reach its funding goal needed to begin Phase 3 clinical trials of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in patients with severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The pledge comes after the fund has already donated $1 million to this endeavor."

This is no bad thing, as their timing leaves something to be desired for a Bitcoin-based campaign. The Bitcoin network is currently experiencing high transaction volumes, long delays and consequently high transaction fees. As of Sunday evening, that meant around £6 to get a transaction confirmed within about 25 blocks (4-5 hours), up to around £14 to get a transaction into the next 1-2 blocks (10 - 20 min). Priority transactions at peak times can presently involve fees to make High Street banks look reasonable; as much as £30 - £50 is not unprecedented.

The effect of this on charitable donations can't be any too helpful. PayPal's usual fee (leaving aside any charitable concessions) is 3.4% plus £/$ 0.20, so for donations of less than a non-trivial £200 or so (and perhaps greater depending on the Bitcoin fees prevailing), PayPal is going to work out cheaper than the economy fee level for Bitcoin. Roll on the Lightning network. In the wider scheme of a $86m Bitcoin-based charitable foundation, raising $9m to fund further scientific research into the known medical uses of a drug declared by successive US administrations to have no known medical uses, I can forgive the Pineapple Fund for donating what they've got and upholding the mechanism through which they've got it.

This may not be a good time to choose Bitcoin as a payment mechanism for smaller transactions, really, but the evils of drug fascism have blighted Western civilisation for more than a century. Bitcoin, by contrast, has just celebrated its ninth birthday earlier this month... and a disparate community of cryptocurrency enthusiasts is doing more both to alleviate the scourge of PTSD, and to support the case for rational, evidence-based drug policy, than any outfit with the formal responsibility or obligation to do so. My compliments, therefore, to the Pineapple Fund - which has undertaken many other laudable social initiatives - as well as to MAPS.